In this video we're going to talk about the uninformed person. This is the person that takes a long time to get back to you. This is the person that every time you ask them about something you sent them, the paper, the email they've never read it, but they say things like, "You know what, I remember looking at it, I just didn't get a chance to really go in depth I'll get back to you soon as I can." Usually, they're decision-maker, and they take forever to make the decision but you needed that decision yesterday. How do you communicate with them? Before we get to how do you communicate with them, we have to ask ourselves, what are they thinking and what do they want? What do they need? The underlining thing that they need is to feel understood, not understanding what they're saying but understanding their situation. So the way we communicate to them is a two-part process. Empathy, plus point of view. Empathy plus point of view. Empathy plus point of view. Not just at the beginning, every response, empathy plus point of view, empathy plus point of view. Now what does that mean? If you've ever had this person in your work environment, they're always saying things like this, "You know what, I've been really overwhelmed, I saw the email, I haven't gotten to it yet. You know what it's been crazy here, I promise I'll get to it as soon as I can." That's every email you get from that person. Why do they feel that way? Why are they saying things like, "You know what, it's just been really crazy here this time of year." It's because it's important for them to feel like you understand their situation, and this is the hardest thing to keep in your head. It doesn't actually matter if they were really busy or not. Because a lot of times you're like, no you haven't been. That's what you're thinking. Your opinion doesn't matter because you need something from them, so their opinion does. So that's why your responses are always like, "Hey, I know it's crazy busy there, do you think you could get to that email maybe by sometime next week." "You know what, I think next week is a very feasible thing." "Awesome because I know you're super busy, could we talk on Tuesday?" "You know what, it's going to be crazy I think Tuesday should be okay." "Awesome. Can we talk on Tuesday afternoon that gives you a little more time?" "Hey thanks so much I appreciate it." "Yeah let's do Tuesday afternoon." Then you'd say, "2 P.M?" So what you're doing is at every stage of your response you're showing empathy and asking them for their opinion on something, their point of view. Now suppose it's not about getting a meeting, suppose it's about getting a decision. What do you do? You have to inform them as you talk. So the empathy is things like this, I know it's super busy but there were three criteria that I've identified for you, A, B, or C and I want to get your opinion on what do you think is the best one? I haven't had a chance to really think about them all but I promise I'm going to get to it as soon as possible, awesome. Here's a quick little summary I made two sentences for each one A, means pro and con, B is pro and con, C is pro and con. Just roughly at a glance what do you think I should be pursuing? You're asking them for their point of view. They'll say something like, "At a glance, but I haven't really committed to it yet." By the way I'm doing this because this is how we communicate by email. If you think about it, we're always talking back and forth like this. I'll have to look at it a little bit more closely but at-a-glance I think A is probably your best option. That's awesome thanks. We'll talk next week, but I'm going to start focusing on A if that's okay with you but still not forgetting B and C. What do think about that? I think that might be a good course of action. The reality is, they haven't thought about either of those three, but you giving them the pros and cons, allows them to save face. So that they can pretend like, I need to look into more in depthly, they'll never look at it more in depthly. I haven't had a chance to fully go in-depth, they haven't even read it. But you're giving them those quick little summaries and asking for their point of view, communicates your busy, I just want you to guide me in the right direction. That's going to make him feel like you really understand their situation, and more importantly, it makes them feel smart, intelligent, like their opinion matters and that is how you communicate with an uninformed person.